Census Partnership Program Focus Groups and Interviews

Appendix H: Partnership Program

Prospective Partner Interview Questionnaire

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for agreeing to talk to me today. I greatly appreciate your time and participation.

As we mentioned in our initial contact with you, ICF will be interviewing representatives from a number of organizations, both those that agreed to be Census Partners and those that declined. At the end, we will assemble everything we have learned from all our interviews into a report that will be provided to the Census Bureau.

Ask

Would it be helpful if I reviewed the program with you?

If yes, introduce the information below:

(Explain Partnership Program) - The Census Bureau established the Partnership Program as an integral component of the 2010 Census communications campaign. At one point over 4,000 partnership personnel across the country were working to establish national, state, local, and tribal partnerships with trusted third party voices such as governments, businesses, non-profits, and faith-based institutions. The 2010 Census Partners delivered to members of their community a message that the Census is safe and essential to serving local needs.

The goal of this interview is to better understand what will work, what will not work and ways that the Partnership Program can be enhanced and be made more engaging. You are in an excellent position to help us with that because you can inform us about the reasons why your organization decided not to participate. Your perspectives are of great value to us.

Please note that we cannot conduct this focus group unless the protocol and the informed consent forms display valid OMB Control Numbers. Furthermore, you do not need to participate unless the protocols and forms have a valid OMB Control Number displayed. The OMB Control Number is: 0607-XXXX. The collection expires September 30, 2011.

(Voluntary Participation/Privacy Act) - Your participation is voluntary – if you choose not to participate, or if you don’t wish to answer a question, there won’t be any negative consequences to you. Also, everything you say remains confidential. No data or response will be linked to any individual by name. If we quote something you said in our report, we will not identify you or your specific organization as the source of the quote. We will analyze your responses as part of a group, such as a group of non-profit organizations, or a group of mid-sized for-profit businesses.

I will read some questions throughout this call, but please feel free to expand beyond these specific questions in your answers.

QUESTIONS AND PROMPTS

Note: Throughout the questions, we will substitute the actual name of the participant’s organization for “your organization.” So, for example, we’d say “about how Target became involved…”

1. (Decision makers): I’d like to talk first about who within your organization is in a position to decide whether your organization should become a Census Partner:

Who decides whether your organization participates in the partnership program?

Whose budget would fund partnership activities if they were undertaken?

(IF NOT MENTIONED) Do the following functions or groups play a role in making the decision?

• Marketing leadership

• Corporate communications

• Strategic planning

• Market research

2. (Reasons for participation): Now we want to explore why some organizations agree to serve as Census Partners and some don't. What was your thinking when you decided not to participate in the partnership program?

Here are some reasons why organizations participate as Census partners. For each one, please tell me if this reason did or did not encourage your participation [list here]

Is there anything that the Census Bureau could do to interest your organization in participating?

What impediments might hamper your organization’s participation?

Here are some activities that Census Partners have done to help with the decennial counts of the population. (Hand list of what partners do). Thinking about these activities, would your organization be in a position to do these if it chose to do so? (Why or why not?)

Are there any other activities your organization would be able to do? (What would those be?)

3. (Perceptions of your role as a Census Partner): What role might perceptions of the role of a Census Partner play in your decision-making?

Do you think that participating in the Census Partnership program would help or hurt your image with customers? Why?

How would it be perceived among your own staff? Why?

4. (Value of Census Data to your organization): Some organizations participate as Census Partners because they find high-quality Census data to be vital to their organizations. We’d like to talk about how your organization uses Census data and its importance to you:

Is the accuracy of Census data a reason for your organization to serve as a Census partner or not? Why?

Would any of the following factors be important enough to your organization to prompt you to become a Partner?

Availability of information on population growth, decline and movement

The need for data to assess potential markets

The need for data to assist in growth planning

The need for data to plan services or products to offer

What Census informational products do you rely on now?

What information would you like to have that is not currently available?

How can we best get the information you need to you?

5. (Concluding comments): if we’ve missed any topics today, do you have anything to add?

CONCLUSION

This concludes our interview. Thank you for taking the time to share your opinions and experiences with us. Your thoughts are valuable to our efforts to inform the Partnership Program on these matters.

OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX 4

Expiration Date: September 30, 2011